1978 BMW R45

A few moons ago I decided to take my dad’s offer of borrowing his somewhat tatty BMW R45. I did this not out of some perverse desire to be ridiculed by pizza delivery boys, or anybody else who has a bike better than that, but I had no cash and it was either ride that – or ride nothing.

My first thoughts as I pulled back the tarpaulin and exposed it to daylight were of mild amusement as I realised that it was still attached to the Wallace and Gromit sidecar (including sud-o-matic) that my dad and his friends had made for a kids ride at a school fete.

With comedy coffin removed I was ready to see what it could do round the lanes. As it fired in to life on the drive with no effort at all and was ticking over with the usual BMW rhythm I was starting to think that maybe it could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

I was soon put straight when I opened the throttle and crawled off the drive like wounded sloth, but undeterred I sailed straight up in to neutral and then on in to second, third… you get the idea.

As I plodded past Budgens I had plenty of time to admire the old girls reflection in the shop window, it has a certain agricultural look and a sound that turns heads (unfortunately) but it also has the feel of good breeding.

As I dipped the bike effortlessly in to the first corner it responded with good manners and sailed round it with enough ease to give me a small grin. Up through the gears (dodging neutral) in to 5th, I wound it up to a princely 70 mph, because there isn’t any real power to speak of any flat spots are disguised nicely by the engines general panting and sweating trying to get up to speed.

Braking is quite interesting as you have to pump the spongy front brake to get a decent reaction and the fork’s dive like Rivaldo when the pressure is applied. As long as there is not much traffic, you don’t try to overtake anything or slow down and speed much it feels relatively smooth and easy to handle.

It’s one of those bikes that if you get your lines right you can ride quite quickly and easily. It also has the added boon that if you do drop it there’s not much to damage (and its not mine either) as the only plastic bits are the side panels and the World War II shell casings they used for barrels and rocker covers would take 90% of the impact.

I would obviously much rather have a cool looking faster bike but left with the choice of banging my head on the steering wheel whilst parked in a traffic jam or hammering a nail, I’ll always choose the nail.